When the
tyrant has disposed of foreign
enemies by conquest or treaty, and
there is nothing to fear from them,
then he is always stirring up some
war or other, in order that the
people may require a leader.

May 13
5 Iraqis were killed in drive-by
shootings, including a tribal sheik,
while a U.S. Army soldier died in a
roadside bomb attack. The bodies of
3 Iraqis who had been kidnapped and
tortured also were found in the
capital of Iraq.

May 14
UK death toll in Iraq hits 111 as
roadside bomb kills two soldiers and
seriously injures one other.

May 15
4 British soldiers were wounded when
suspected insurgents fired at least
30 mortar rounds at a British
military base in Amarah.

May 16
Massive US air strikes during the
initial invasion in April 2003, as
well as subsequent fighting between
insurgents and US troops, caused
much destruction of property.
However many families still await
compensation for these losses.

May 17
A Pentagon report on an incident in
which U.S. Marines shot and killed
more than a dozen Iraqi civilians
last November will show that those
killings were deliberate and
worse than
initially reported,
Republican Congressman John Murtha
said during a news conference: `Our
troops overreacted because of the
pressure on them. And they killed
innocent civilians in cold blood.`

May 181 person is being
assassinated in Basra every hour as
order in Iraq`s second city
disintegrates, according to an Iraqi
Defence Ministry official. The
number of killings is now at a level
close to that of Baghdad and marks
the failure of the British Army`s
3-year-old attempt to quell violence
in Basra.

May 19
In the latest indication of the
crushing hardships weighing on the
lives of Iraqis, increasing portions
of the middle class seem to be doing
everything they can to leave the
country. In the last 10 months, the
state has issued new passports to
1.85 million Iraqis, 7 percent of
the population and a quarter of the
country`s estimated middle class.

The plan calls for a rolling, 5
day bombing campaign against 400 key
targets in Iran, including 24
nuclear-related sites, 14 military
airfields and radar installations,
and Revolutionary Guard
headquarters.

At least 75 targets in underground
complexes would be attacked with
waves of bunker-buster bombs. UK
sources say contingency plans have
also been drawn up to cope with the
inevitable backlash against the
Basra garrison in neighbouring Iraq.

*This
estimate is only of English
language media reported deaths.
A peer reviewed epidemiological
survey (Roberts
et al., The Lancet, Vol 364 Issue
9448 pp 1857 1864)
estimated that in the 18 months
following the invasion 100, 000
excess deaths or more have
occurred. Violence accounted for
most of the excess deaths and air
strikes from coalition forces
accounted for most violent deaths.
Criticisms of IBC methodology can be
found at
medialens